EDITOR’S LETTER

ROAD & TRACK MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2020 CONTENTS

Road & Track® (ISSN 0035-7189), (USPS 570-670) VOL. 72, NO. 3, November/December 2020, is published monthly, with combined issues in March/April, September/October, and November/December 8 times per year, by Hearst, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Steven R. Swartz, President & Chief Executive O cer; William R. Hearst III, Chairman; Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman; Debi Chirichella, Acting President, Hearst Magazines Group. Hearst Autos, Inc.: Matt Sanchez, Chief Executive O cer; Nick Matarazzo, President and Chief Revenue O cer; Debi Chirichella, Treasurer; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary. © 2020 by Hearst Autos, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks: Road & Track is registered trademark of Hearst Autos, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing o ces. Editorial and Advertising O ces: 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. Subscription Prices: United States and possessions: $13.00 for one year; Canada, add $10.00; all other countries, add $28.00. Subscription Services: Road & Track will, upon receipt of a complete subscription order, undertake fulfillment of that order so as to provide the first copy for delivery by the Postal Service or alternate carrier within 4–6 weeks. Mailing Lists: From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies who sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you would rather not receive such o ers by postal mail, please send your current mailing label or an exact copy to Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. You can also visit preferences.hearstmags.com to manage your preferences and opt out of receiving marketing o ers by email. Road & Track assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. None will be returned unless accompanied by a selfaddressed stamped envelope. Permissions: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Back Issues: Back issues are available for purchase in digital format only from your app store of choice. Reprints: For information or reprints and eprints, please contact Brian Kolb at Wright’ s Media, 877-652-5295 or bkolb@wrightsmedia.com. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to Road&Track, P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. Printed in the U.S.A. CANADIAN IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT: Canada Post International Publications mail product (Canadian distribution) sales agreement no. 40012499. Canadian Registration Number 126018209RT0001. GO 10 WHEN INDY SAT EMPTY

COLUMNS 6 EDITOR’S LETTER 12 SIDE GLANCES

FEATURES 16 DREAM OF DREAMS Eight legends. An empty track. One all-time champ.

B Y R &T S TA F F 54 LEWIS RISING Amid 2020’s chaos, Lewis Hamilton will be heard.

B Y K Y L E K I N A R D 70 CANNONBALL(ISH)! Coast to coast in Porsche’s electric wunderkind.

B Y B O B S O R O K A N I C H 78 WE’VE GOT THE NEED How R&T kickstarted a gaming dynasty.

B Y M A C K H O G A N 84 GREAT EXPECTATIONS The mid-engine Vette meets endless anticipation.

EDITOR’S LETTER | TRAVIS OKULSKI

HERO WORSHIP

Owning your automotive idol is always worth it, no matter how frustrating.

When I sold my cars earlier this year, it was to fulfill a fantasy. See, I’ ve long wanted a Lotus Esprit, the wedge-shaped four-cylinder lightweight cobbled together in an English shed.

It’ s been a dream since I first sat in an S4 Esprit when I was eight years old. I didn ’t have any logical reason for wanting one beyond that, and I recently realized that if I didn ’t buy one soon, I never would. Work, family, life, and finances would see it become unreachable.

Over the summer, I found one. A higher-mileage 1995 S4 with extensive service records. It’ s, shall we say, lacking, cosmetically. Not that it matters. I wanted a driver, and I got one.

In many ways, it’ s horrible. I can ’t see out of it, the steering wheel blocks the gauges, the headlights are worse than oil lamps, and I’ m still at the phase where I’ m constantly fretting about every little noise. My wife has barely ridden in it with me because I may need someone to call for a ride home.

But I forget all that every time the four-banger comes on boost. The steering chatters away, refusing to mute the world below the tires. The Esprit looks amazing, the perfect Nineties rounded wedge. I adore it. As of this writing, it hasn ’t broken down yet, not even once, and it recently completed a 300-mile journey over two days. It was a trip so vast that editor-at-large Peter Egan suggested I submit it to Guinness for record consideration. When I checked, Guinness didn ’t have a British Car Reliability category. What a shame.

Just seeing the Lotus in the garage every day is enough to brighten my mood. People say you shouldn ’t meet your heroes, but that’ s a load of crap. You don ’t get the true measure of a person, place, or thing by deifying it. You get there through experience.

Many of my heroes have been associated with this magazine. Writers, editors, racers, and enthusiasts, all united by the love of sports cars, racing, adventures, and storytelling the ampersand has represented for nearly 75 years. Now, as we look to the next 75 years, we ’ re making an exciting investment in Road & Track’ s future.

Our publishing schedule will move to six times per year, but that will be accompanied by much-improved paper quality and way more pages, two things we know you ’ll appreciate. You ’ll get nearly 1000 pages of Road & Track per year, a 50-percent increase, valuable real estate we can dedicate to feature articles and compelling photography. The writers and editors you love will be here, along with input from new, interesting voices. There will also be an expansion of our outstanding in-person events when the world starts getting back to normal, with drives, tours, interviews, and the unique opportunity to join us on some of the biggest tests we do. Road & Track has always been about dreams, and we want to live ours with you.

With these developments, it seemed like an appropriate time to step back from the day-to-day and leave the future of the brand to a new editor, Mike Guy, who will take over the top chair with the next issue and move Road & Track into the future. I’ m going to stick around and get back to what I love: writing and, more importantly, driving. That Esprit isn ’t going to hit 100,000 miles on its own.

Travis Okulski is R&T’ s editor-in-chief. Email him: travis.okulski@hearst.com.

YO U D O N ’ T G E T T H E T R U E M E A S U R E O F A P E R S O N , P L A C E , O R T H I N G BY D E I F Y I N G I T.